QOTD: Time For A Europe Deathwatch?
October 15th, 2012 12:29 PM
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Every day seems to bring new tales of doom and gloom for Europe. Is it time for a Continental Deathwatch?
- An ongoing capacity crisis with plants outputting far less than necessary to stay profitable
- Opel facing a meltdown and a possible merger with PSA
- PSA being eaten alive by rival Renault’s low-cost cars
- Fiat fretting about…well, nearly everything from capacity to EU assistance to labor
- Ford sales taking a swan dive
- An overall bleak picture for auto sale s, at their lowest in over a decade.
The time may be right for a Europe Deathwatch. Maybe not in the same vein as the GM Deathwatch, but there is no doubt that there will be major changes to the continent’s auto industry. The PSA-Opel merger, if it goes through, could be the start of massive consolidation in an overly bloated industry, and no amount of editorials lamenting the marque that brought us the 505 STX and the 205 GTI can change the facts on the ground.
In the mean time, have your say.
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Neither austerity (where the banks get bailed out) nor QE have been proven to work. The problem is that the job creation (globally) is lower than the population growth (globally). The post industrial economy is not much of an economy, it's just governments & central banks trying to export unemployment and subsidize unsustainable jobs based on consumption in the west and on production in the east. Only a devastating WW III would be a realistic solution.
Hey controllio, OMB did not screw up, but could not anticipate Bush starting two wars, paying off 9/11 victims millions, and giving AARP geezers Medicare Part D (drug coverage) at virtually the same time. Would have been cheaper and more effective to nuke Afghanistan, would have gotten ben laden quicker and scared Saddam into letting the inspectors back in.
Ford is not tanking. Agree with some of your post, but both Ford and GM have been making large losses in Europe. VW has a much better strategy than both of them. Time to shake out the management at both companies.
Can you believe it, just read today, Bush will not endorse Romney, who's he going to endorse, Obama? can't bush just keep his trap shut... Wotta life